Ep 289 Jake Vaughn

Jake Vaughn’s story begins in a small town where music was more than a hobby; it was a lifeline. From the first time he picked up a guitar, he knew it was something he was meant to do. What started as late nights playing in small local bars soon turned into bigger stages, louder crowds, and a career built on passion, grit, and heart.

Jake’s sound comes from his roots. It’s country at its core, but with the fire of rock and the honesty of real life running through every song. His voice and energy tell stories that people connect to, stories about hard work, love, loss, and chasing dreams.

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Coming to you from the studios at the Illinois Rock and Roll Museum on Route 66. It's the Rock and Roll Chicago podcast Hey everybody, it's Ray the roadie and this is Hollywood Mike, how you doing Ray? I'm fine. You sound very Calm calm calm.

What I'm normally are you like a MRN or something? I'm normally not calm I know normally you're not I'm in my Morgan Freeman Andy Dufresne This is CNN. Yeah, I wish I could do that. I can't this is see I can't go that I can't go that deep I was that was he was deep.

Yeah, I wish I had that voice like Billy Gray that we had on Yeah, that was awesome, yeah, yeah. Yeah. So we got in the studio today.

Who's this tonight? We've got a man Jake Vaughn All right No relation to Stevie Ray, no, I wish yeah, no kidding. I've been asked that so many times Are you really Stevie Ray? I'm like, um, I wish no. No, not yeah, not at all Not not one, but that's okay, though.

At least you got the name and it's right exactly musically Well, so my original stage name was Jake Daniels cuz I like Jack Daniels Jake Daniels. There you go Yeah, and then I changed it to my actual last name Vaughn and after that Yeah, I totally would have I would have gone with Vaughn over over Daniels Daniels Yeah, because of the music because there's actually a guy who I'm friends with he plays at the State Fair all the time in Illinois and his name is Jack Daniels. Oh, yeah Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, what's your middle name Daniel Jamie Vaughn JD Vaughn We're creating new artists as we see that yes, that's right.

Yeah Yeah So you and I actually you look familiar to me and I realized where you look familiar to me you and I have shared Wall space over a urinal at true country in Shanahan. Yep. Okay, that's where I know you from cuz I'm like I know him from somewhere.

Where do I know him from? Yep. Yeah Yeah, I was sitting there peeing and going that's the guy playing here next week after me or whatever Yeah, how'd you like that place? Oh, it's so nice. Have you been in a new one yet? Yes, I play I did their opening Oh, you did.

Yes. I did their opening and they had a DJ beforehand Cowboy Jake, okay. He does the Wednesdays for their Line dancing night.

Okay, so I thought I you know I also, you know must have been the whole opening weekend because I thought Billy Gray played their opening Billy. Yeah, he played the day after Gotcha. Yeah, I think if I remember correctly, I think he played on Saturday something.

Yeah I was on a Friday. Yeah, I have yet to get to that one I've got a date there myself coming up toward the end of the year No, do you really got one of Shanahan? I wanted new Lennox, but I haven't been to the one in new Lennox yet So I'm gonna have to go check it out and see it's cavernous. Yes, really.

It's that big. It's big Wow, it's huge because it used to be I forget what bar it was a tease JT's Oh, and then it was nothing for a while and then they bought it and redid So I was talking to the owner the floor was actually all dirt at one point So she's like we had to redo the floors We had to redo literally from top to bottom and I don't know how much money she put in it But when you go in there, you'll understand what I'm talking about. Oh, they put a lot of money in So nice is the decor like the one in Shanahan? Yes With the flag and the ceiling and they actually have a bigger version of that.

Oh, yeah Yeah, of course you have to excellent and they got a little homage sign to JT's. Oh, yeah, they do Yes, I forgot about that. Somebody told me about that.

They have an Amish sign Amish Fromage yes. Yes. Yes, we are getting cheesy.

Yes, we are I think we're all just get hungry. We're all musicians. Let's be real Oh, I know at the end of the night if you if you have a restaurant or a bar just got leftover food You're about to throw just bring it to the band.

Yeah, right. That's the way it goes. Yep Yep, so tell us this crazy musical journey years.

So you're crazy. I started in a church in Bradley, Illinois Yeah, well, that's not strange. There's a lot of people started It was strange because the original drummer that was there.

I was really probably Nine or ten. Mm-hmm. The original drummer.

He kind of dropped out because academic stuff. I'm like, well, I've never done drums Let's try it out. And I'm always a guitar guy You never played drums never like I'm gonna play drums in church, I'm just like let's do it I'm just gonna because I like new stuff.

I'm just gonna Metallica Pretty much is what happened. I started playing and I was probably I forget what grade and my teacher goes you need to stick with that You need to stick with music like I don't know like my dad was a my biological dad was firefighter My mom was a nurse. Okay, so I didn't want to be a nurse because I can't do blood and stuff And I don't want to work in a hospital because you know, right so then I kind of Started doing YouTube and all that Started getting picked up and a lot of bands were like, well, can you just sit in for a few? You know a few tunes whatever So the first show I ever did outside of doing church bands was a guy and I cannot remember his name, but he's passed away But he used to work with Tommy James and Shondells, okay He was a fill-in and so he's like just play drums, you know, and I love the older music Yeah, so I played drums and he goes you need to keep we keep this like, okay, you're the second person.

What the hell? so I just kept playing drums playing drums and like started making these connections Then all of a sudden I'm playing at the Rialto Theatre. Then I'm playing from Rialto. I'm playing One of the small amphitheaters and Crown Point like it's that weird Just like local bands and stuff at the Rialto there was a they had they used to have like And I could be wrong, but there was a band that was there and they were They were like a local ish band, but they all did like side projects like with different professional artists, right? So they had their side project they played at the Rialto and they asked me to play for it my game.

I'll do it It's fun. So then I did that and they were like, well, you're really good like for not knowing how to play drums You're like super good. You're the best non drummer yeah, you're the best non drummer ever, but then from there like I started doing like more local stuff and Got to play in Nashville played at Tootsie's and Kid Rocks bar nice and like I'm not I write music, but I don't like release it because I'm like this is so Stupid like who wants to he wants to hear this like about an Indian cave.

Nobody cares about an Indian cave like But Yeah, and then I started I kept doing it and then kovat hit all my contracts that I had with like these different like local Businesses and stuff kind of they went to nothing, right? And so I started working with alongside the government for the kovat vaccine and then one day I'm like, you know I kind of want to start doing the the music thing again. How did you start? How did you work? What do you mean you worked alongside the government? So we are we were technically independent contractors with the government so What happened was we there's like different. This is a day job.

Yeah, this was yeah, it was a day job. Gotcha. So What would happen is the government will come to? They would need like oh we need like Supplies so they would go to a company and say hey, look, we know you do supplies.

We're gonna give you a building We're gonna do this this this we'll fund the whole thing, right? But we won't like you'll just be like an independent contractor. So I worked at a place called McKesson Oh, and we were kind of the you guys you guys were actually one of my largest accounts for many many years Okay, so yeah. Yeah.

Yeah worked in the industry. Yeah. Yeah, so I work there I have a cousin actually works for McKesson as well.

Oh really? Yeah, but she's in is it Ohio? Yeah, there's one in Ohio Yeah, so then after that I'm like, uh, I'm kind of I want to do part-time So then I went across the street worked at a bakery called the rise baking company. You went from a Kesson to a bakery Yes I'm like, you know what? I'm I'm doing all these avenues might as well Yeah, so then I started working there for a little bit and I just I was like, yeah I can't I can't do this like me like cuz I'm always doing like I was playing in bars and stuff and I'm like I just I like music better than Going to a nine-to-five and you know making cookies for a living like that's not You know, of course, but you know ever since then it's it's been nice that you know I've been playing in a lot of bars and Like getting from Illinois, Indiana Michigan Wisconsin like playing a lot of those bars, right? And every once in a while, I'll travel out and do like Memphis or whatever with some friends of mine that that play out So, yeah, but you're mostly in the Great Lakes region. Yes.

I'm mostly in Central, Illinois I'm mostly and you know, I try to stick around here because it's easier and Small. Yeah, of course it is. Yeah.

So yeah, but yeah, I mean and you know I went to college for a year doing music education and minoring with special education Mm-hmm, then I saw the climate because my mom is now a school nurse in Bradley. Oh, okay. Yeah, right the Bradley schools so she was like This is not what you think it's gonna be.

So I'm like, well, I'll just do and that was the hardest conversation saying hey, look I'm dropping out of college. I'm gonna do music again full-time and I know this is gonna be you know It's kind of like building an empire from the ground up, you know And I mean I built an empire and got to do some cool stuff meet some cool people and like Coming up soon I'm gonna be doing a show in Solomon, Illinois, and so that's a festival and then I do a lot of like private parties now more And they're always fun. I mean, they're more intimate than doing, you know a theater show or like whatever and that's my favorite that's why I like playing at true country is because Yes, it's a bigger space like the Shanahan one is kind of smaller but the new Lennox it's yes It's a bigger space, but it's more that intimate, you know thing.

That's what I and that's what I like. So I've seen videos of you playing with a band. Are you normally a solo artist or do you have I mix it up a little bit I mean, I have some jam bands that we do a lot of open mics and stuff and just It's a lot of guys like my buddy Brian go dad So he used to play up in the Detroit area moved down to Kankakee with his wife And now he does a lot with like other bands.

He fills in kind of like what I do. Sure and Sorry But he played at Carnegie Hall He's met a lot of these cool artists and stuff and like there was one time I brought a bottle of whiskey home and we just sat on his front porch and just told stories about like different cool facts about music and stuff because we're both on that same level of we appreciate music differently than Like your average Joe like we'll listen to a song and be like, okay Well, I like that the drums did this at this part, but I think I would have done XYZ You know you listen and analyze the music. Yes, we all yes and like every Wednesday a bunch of my buddies will come over We'll you know get some food or whatever and we'll just sit and talk music and jam and like every musician They sit around they talk about how they could have done it better Now I know why you did it that way cuz he couldn't do it either I bet well, that's and like we were interested in like the music history part and Like my girlfriend love her to death coset.

We were talking about it She's like if I ever did a music trivia I would want you on my team because you know so much about that and like just the little nitty-gritty stuff of yeah like one of the we were talking about it was down she goes to Purdue and they were doing like a with all of her friends and it was Peter or not Peter Paul and Mary the cowsills. Yep. Yeah, so There's a song of theirs and they said the record company would not release it because it sounded like That if you are going to San Francisco That's on and they said what was the original title and I knew it immediately And I know the story behind it and she's like, don't you say nothing? Don't you freaking say nothing? Don't hijack this entire.

Yes To it, she's like I don't even know what the title and I said it was flower girl. That's the original title Because the original yeah, they were gonna release it as that and the company goes No, because we have another artist that has you know, if you're in San Francisco and back in the day, you know To get promoted you would have to bring your album to a record company or record coming into a radio station You know and they thought it would get confused and they said well you need to change it. What are you gonna change it to? Yeah, and so they all put their heads together there and when the guys just randomly said rain parking the other things Let's just call it that And all of them looked at each other like that's so stupid, but let's just do it and see what happens That's what it is.

And now it's like one of their top songs, you know, it's it's it's weird Yeah, I'm like that with friends trivia you oh, yeah. Yeah, I know every single friend's true I my mom's the same way be a billionaire if I ever Ever if found places that had regular friends true. They wouldn't be able to stop me.

No, right? Yeah. So what? What are the colors and the order of the colors in the friends logo? Oh No, yeah, see I stumped him. I get everybody on this There's red somewhere in there.

I think right? Yeah. Yeah. I don't know that I know there's red No, there's that green is it? No, maybe yeah Blue yeah for sure.

Yeah, see I would have to look up dr Google on this cuz I wouldn't have no I get I get everybody on it because I did do a friend's trivia night where everybody Had to submit a trivia question Yeah And you won like a thousand bonus points in this contest if nobody in the room could answer your trivia question, right? Oh really and I was the only one that got it Really yeah, it's it's it's it's red blue yellow red yellow blue So anyways, yeah, we can go we can go on with trivia right like crazy. Yeah. Yeah friends trivia we could talk about So most mostly cover stuff you said you write song yeah, but what's If you can write songs, why not? What so when I play them out My big thing Adam Sandler can write music and perform it in front of people Well, so my philosophy is like and it's just how I Think about it and you know I did a lot of like researching on YouTube and you know all that stuff and trying to get like Kind of my thoughts together, but my thought is I'm not gonna be a Luke Combs I know that I'm not gonna be a Luke Combs.

I'm not gonna be a Kenny Chesney thankful for that though Right because I mean Luke Holmes is probably one of the most no, I take that back. I'm sorry. I'm thinking of Luke Bryan Well, even right.

I mean, he's the most polarizing country artist in the world, right? Right people either love him or you hate him What's kind of like? Like I like Luke Holmes. I like yes, I met him a few months ago We either he played in South Bend. I mean my girlfriend we met I remember that show I remembered he was going to South Bend.

Yes, he is like the nicest dude ever But I'm like, I know there's gonna be and I'm not a good writer I can honestly tell you like I can sit there and just put word salad together But I know if I release it ain't going go nowhere, you know, you know the more you do it the better you get, right? Right, and how do you know it's not going anywhere unless you release it? Thanks. That's true. Yeah, that's you don't think of all the people that released songs that they absolutely hated and It turns out to be there, you know, right or the company's like oh this ain't going anywhere and all of a sudden They're like, oh look, that's a nice check.

That's a nice. Yeah. Yeah.

What was it? It was I think it was It was Tina Turner was told to record What's What's love got to do with it? Yes. She hated that song now everybody know that's the Tina Turner song period done That's it. That's Tina Turner's right.

You never know. Yeah But that yeah, I just I I don't know I I have some good ones that I think I could I could do but like At the same time. I'm like, is it really ready to throw out to an audience? Is it really ready to? Get that exposure like on a on a professional level.

Yeah, and I know that there's gonna be better Songwriters are gonna be better singers But do I really want to compete well not compete but like throw my stuff out and then it come back and bite me in The ass per se. I don't know sounds like he's a little chicken. Yeah You know a lot of people in the business, yeah, you know try it on them right there They'll be the ones that give you the honest opinions.

Don't don't go to your friends, right? Don't want to hurt your feelings, right? I've watched American Idol auditions and they always said well my friend said I could sing. Well, your friends are idiots There are people that have sent me stuff they're like, what do you think of this? I'm like, oh shit. Here we go Yeah, yeah, right cuz I'm like, I don't want to be that person but also gotta be honest I have to be honest what and I will say there's a guy he went to school with my dad He was in a band called Jason the Haymakers, I've heard of that He opened up I think for like Toby Keith or something like that.

So I Met him and he's like, well a lot of these songs. I like them, but I just threw him together. Just see what happens Yeah, right.

One of them was She rides horses and I'm like, that's the weirdest name to you know to Title something because when you read that you're like, oh, it's just like wait who wrote this Jason Jason Jason the Haymakers gotcha And I said, this is like the weirdest title ever because it could mean so many things But then when you listen to a song like oh, it's actually cool, you know Mm-hmm. I wrote a song many many many years ago people ask me to sing it who know of it all the time Yeah, and it's a dumber title than that. It's called a horse named Joe Really it's called a horse named Joe and it's a it's a it's a slow ballad II kind of right kind of outlaw Country-ish type kind of a song right and it is about the day that my grandfather decided that he was gonna leave home and go Out on his own He was 17 years old and his father threw him a silver dollar and said if you find yourself in a bad way this silver Dollar will get you a bed for the night in a meal.

Take your horse and go. Oh, really? That's cool and the horse's name was Joe nice. Yeah.

Well like I had one it was called just dream and it was about an actual experience so, you know mental health is very close to my my my wheelhouse and There was one time I was kind of in that mood of in my head. I'm like, okay What would what would I do if it was the? Rolls were reversed. What would I tell somebody if they're having like anxiety attack or they have like special needs or whatever? So I just wrote a bunch of stuff down and I just called it just breathe because I thought it was just like oh That's a cool like, you know ballad II, you know just about Then he got sued by Faith Hill.

Yeah He made a music video and everything where he's wearing a But I was like do I really want to and that was like I was talking to a bunch of my buddies that were in My jam band. I like do I really want to release this and he goes if you want to yes, but I would look at it from a perspective of Will this help somebody out if they actually listen to it? Yeah, would it help out, you know that that audience or whatever and I went and released it And it was in 2016 2019 is when the music industry started shifting because of code or a kovat and YouTube started doing their weird stuff with copyright so like I was releasing song after song after song after song and YouTube decided to say hey, that's not your song It sounds like so-and-so song or that songs not like your song. It sounds like so-and-so song and So then I was like, well, you know, maybe I can just let's see what happens maybe I'll rerelease it same thing happened So I'm like, well, do I really want to just release it out to the digital platform or Every once in a while pull it out and keep it for just a live audience and keep it the intimate way, right? right, right, right and there was a lot of debate about that with with some of my family and stuff who Actually, like help me out with a lot of the stuff I do and we had that debate of okay But what if we take the key down a whole stop well, will that matter or Maybe we'll change the tempo or maybe we write in a different, you know, there's a million things you can do.

Sure But is it what's gonna what's gonna stick, you know, and what will be accepted quote-unquote in The digital world of that's where music is going to Spotify the YouTube or whatever, you know I say screw that for I say screw that format and and the rules because you know, we've gone through We've gone through a lot of movements right within the past 20 years or so Yeah You know when you know My kids are probably about the same age that you are and when they were young everything that they listened to I mean that we're Talking pre streaming days or right is like the only streaming service was serious satellite radio or something. Yeah, right, right, right and Everything started everything started to sound exactly the same and the last two holdouts were hard rock and country and now even today You've got hard rock and country that um, all the songs sound almost exact, you know identical Yeah, right You can't tell the difference between who's on the radio and not but we've got a change that is coming around Right, and we talk about this all the time It really was kind of led by guys like Chris Stapleton, right, right, right Luke Holmes the guys like that where they found a way to make country music or Southern rock whatever you want to call it palatable for everybody and they got away from the Right exactly, you know They got away from the dubstep beat that seems to be behind everybody. Right? Why would you want to? use those formats and listen to those formats and and Create something that you think would fit into that format when I see the trend moving away from that and you're gonna sound like everybody Else right and that's what when I base my shows I base it off of like even true country Somebody people come there.

They're like your show is different Because I look at okay, what's going on right now in the music industry if a guy's sitting up there for three hours No expression just playing That bugs the absolute hell out of me and the guys that strum the guitar over and over again with the same Right fucking strum better Okay, what and they have no and like no offense to anybody like It's one of those things. Okay, what can I do to kind of peak the interest, you know? Because a right now I have I have some like jam bands, but we're not enough to be like Oh, let's do a three-hour show, right? So what I started doing is I had my tablet with me and I start playing tracks and Play over the tracks with some of the stuff, right? I think that's what I saw on true country Because you were able to put your guitar down and you walk down to the crowd with a microphone, right? Yeah, yeah, but people are not expecting that right and that's when the heads turn and they say whoa Did that guy just put his guitar down and start playing tracks? What is going on what in the hell is going on So I started doing that Three years ago, right? Okay. I've had so many musicians reach out to me and I'm not gonna name any names who are local Why the fuck are you gonna do that? That is I'm not gonna work.

I'm glad you well I'm glad you said that because I was kind of thinking the same thing for a minute, but go ahead. Yeah Like that's not gonna work. Yeah, and I started getting booked at the same places once a month twice a month then It started to be okay.

Well, he's doing the same thing. Mm-hmm Am I really doing the same thing or am I playing off the audience and what I'm seeing? But you have to be careful with it though, because there's a right. No, there's a fine line between there's there's a there's a peak there's a fine line between doing something that's unique and and Helping your show and then falling over that hill and all of a sudden you're labeling yourself into the group of bands that everybody complains about like exactly we're not gonna name any names or anything, but you know the bands that They can stop playing their instruments and the music doesn't change, right? You know, right well in like we I had this conversation with somebody actually today We were talking about live music and how it's You like we were talking about it's changing.

It's morphing into something new We were talking about that and how Like back in the day like when you were recording not a lot of bands knew how to play their instrument So you would hire a backing band, right? Of course Now a lot of people are they're doing the same like the same thing It's starting to come back now where people are hiring like backing bands or whatever that are local, right? Right, and I I saw some two or three artists Out of Crown Point, Indiana, right who now they're Just having a quote-unquote band, but they call it a rotating band We're not everyone's the same every night and I think that's cool like black label Society. Yeah. Yeah Yeah, and like and and that's where I want to get to the point where I can have a rotating man Where hey, if you don't want to play the show cool, I got 600 other people who are 600 yeah But I got other people that are 600 tambourine cow bells and only one glockenspiel exactly, but I got I want to have that rotating band where everything is unique and then like a Luke Holmes show like when you Do in the introductions to oh, this is so-and-so from Chicago, Illinois And he does a part of a song and then this guy does a part.

I think that's cool because that's cool You're going out of and a lot of those guys don't they're not country guys. They're not originally country guys They're either jazz or whatever. Yeah, but you're bringing that element of okay that guy knows this song that I like Yeah, and it's not country, you know your band together for the night.

You're playing true country So I know this guy's a great country picker and this guy played right in the country band or whatever Yeah, you're not gonna go out and hire a metal band to play right through country if you're playing Johnny cash tunes, right? Exactly, right, right, but I've seen bands There's one that plays all the time in Valparaiso and it's kind of like it's a it's at the journeyman distillery the new one Yeah, right. Yeah, they had a band who it's uh, it was kind of like the Where they take like a country guy and a blues guy put them together. Like I think CMA does that or whatever, right? Right.

Yeah. Yeah, so they they had three bands and they said do not do your style Take a song that you do in your own shows and twist it up in a different in a different genre or whatever, right? Right. I have never heard Walk the line In like a bluesy like more like the traditional blues or jazz never heard that played live before like on YouTube Yeah, I'm flipping through Instagram.

Yeah. Yeah, I see that all the time, but hearing it live is a whole different ballgame You're getting a new kind of new taste to these songs that are like legendary like Like the you know, walk the line or like somebody did Elvira yeah, and they did it more as like a pop punk type thing And I'm like, that's cool because you're reinvent you're kind of reinventing a wheel and like per se But you got the you got the main you got the foundation there You're just kind of redoing the house at this point, you know, yeah, which I think is cool I'll tell you what before we start running out of time. I know people are going to hear you So we're gonna take a real quick break.

All right, we're gonna do a little sound check we're gonna talk about a little bit of a set list right here and then we're gonna waterboard him and see if we can Convince him into playing one of his original songs. Sounds good. All right, I think the waterboarding Okay, be right back.

You're listening to the rock and roll Chicago podcast your Sunday nights Just got a whole lot bluesier Get ready for the bus stop blues show that takes you deep into the soul of the blues with classic hits Road stories and live jam sessions hosted by blues man Kevin Purcell and me the one and only road bill the bus stop blues is two hours of nonstop blues banter and badassery Check out the bus stop blues podcast at the bus stop blues.com where you can listen on Spotify I heart Apple podcasts or any other major podcast platform up on board the bus stop blues where the blues never stops rolling All right, we're back why don't you take it away I want to hear this all right, we're gonna do some with comes for you I Love Real quick When she heard of all my newfound love, only a friend and I It's crazy how that now just seemed to come in the way What I thought was gonna be the death of me was my saving grace Got me thinkin' that her leavin' is the only logical reason That I got left behind at that Hooters parking lot In a way she's left a number on my check with a heart She picked up on the first ring when I gave her a call And I only spent five bucks at that music club I don't wanna use four-wheeler and a three-free basket For me and two of my buddies to play around and go And I haven't seen my ex-sister's mother-in-law anymore Oh Lord, when it rains, it pours When it rains, it pours I've been on one hell of a redneck road for three weeks now It all started on the day she walked down And then I won a hundred bucks on a scratch-off dick Bought two 12-packs and a tank of gas with it She's going on a waste of time, oh, but she was wrong I only spent five bucks at the move-out route I don't wanna use four-wheeler and a three-free basket For me and three of my buddies to go drinking at heart And I don't wanna spend five bucks anymore Oh Lord, when it rains, it pours That's a pain Oh, what was that? Uh-oh, uh-oh I must have hit a button on here somewhere I guess you did We want the funk Gotta have that funk We want the funk That was funny, I don't know where that came from It's still going Somebody turn the radio station on? Oh, it's the top one It's that top button That was funky That was pretty good I love that line in that song I do, I heard the song before and I couldn't remember that Yeah, yeah And I ain't seen my ex-future mother-in-law That's great, I love that Yeah, I know I sang it the first time I sang it My girlfriend's mom came to my show And I said that line and I stared at her And she told me the I love you in sign language And I'll let you do the interpretation on that one Yeah, yeah, oh, that's good, I like that Yeah No, that is a good song Oh, I love it A little gravel in the voice and the whole thing Oh, yeah And now, is that your preferred style? You're more of a country artist? Yeah, I like country I mean, I dabble in other stuff Like a lot of, like, Jimmy Buffett I do a lot of him I do Slightly Stupid, reggae Bob Marley, you know Yeah, yeah But I go all over the place But my main is country Right, right You know, right now, country music Especially that outlaw country music Oh, yeah That's the new rock and roll right now Oh, yes You know, I mean, pop music is almost all hip hop nowadays Oh, yeah And there's, I mean, even the stuff that would be considered rock and roll Has a very heavy southern rock kind of a feel to it But yeah, like southern rock, country music That's like the new rock and roll right now Because it's not hard rock It's not heavy metal or anything It's rock and roll Well, and like, I was talking to somebody Actually, it was my It might have been my mom And we were talking about different artists and stuff And I said, you know, I love the older artists And the only person I can think of That reminds me of, like, the older country is Stapleton Yeah Because he's got a lot of that old Well, you're a young man Wow, you're a young man There's a lot of people that came before Chris Stapleton That kind of revived that sound a little bit Oh, yeah Because, I mean, I grew up on the old country, you know Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings, you know, all that And so, like, a lot of my show And I always say my platform, quote-unquote My whatever you want to call it Is family-oriented Sure Because my grandparents helped me with my set list and stuff When I do a lot of, like, the VFW and stuff Right, right, right, right My girlfriend is, I call her my wife-inger Because she helps me out with, like, doing emails And, hey, I want to do this, what do you think of this, you know Right My mom and stepdad are very much into, like, okay Well, they help me out with, like, okay, well, maybe this didn't work But try this, you know, that type of thing Because get that outside perspective And then my sisters are just there because they like the free booze So, I mean You know, you got to have I go with the sisters Yeah I mean, that's the reason why most of the people come to our shows Is for the booze, that's right Yeah, well, it's so funny because One of my radio shows I was on We were sponsored by Reggae Wine It's out of Indiana Okay And so I brought, like, three or four bottles home And, of course, girlfriend and my mom went, yep I want that one, I want that one, I want that one And, yeah, it was funny Because I probably have probably three more bottles And I was told not to bring it anywhere because it's there Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah You know, I actually have a show coming up in a couple of weeks myself And Carpenter Creek Cellars in Indiana Oh, really? Yes, and they make fantastic wine And they hire bands on the weekends And we have a blast out there I play in St. Julian now Or in Union Pier at St. Julian I've been to St. Julian Okay, so I went there two days ago Because I was like, I'm going to get more whiskey I like whiskey, I'll get more So then I ended up walking out with four free bottles of whiskey Because they were like, oh, try this, try this, try this, try this I'm like, I'm going to be an alcoholic Let's just At least you have an aspiration You've got aspirations from that As I sit here making myself a drink Yeah, that's right And we always head down the street for bourbon after this I'm joking, Ron Yeah, we always head down the street for bourbon after this Oh, yeah And everybody knows us, yeah Yeah So we're going to have a good time So am I going to get one out of you Or am I going to have to waterboard you Okay To convince you to play an original song Because I have a feeling, I have a feeling Let me see if I can throw Which one can I I mean, there's one that I mean, I kind of redid it It was a friend of mine's song And I was like, you know what Just play your favorite one, man Don't overthink it Watch your headphone cable there Headphone? Your headphone Headphone music Yeah Let's see There we go There we go That should work That'll work Now that'll work I'm so tired of this place Go ahead and knock off Three miles, three miles, three miles, two miles Yeah, my day's been a little messed up Sunshine, it's in my face So baby, so baby, so take me down To my favorite place And beat me down By the end of the day Every memory is flooding back to me Every time, every place I think it's all right So baby, so baby, so take me down To my favorite place And beat me down By the end of the day Every memory is flooding back to me Every time, every place I think it's all right To a place you kind of know Pack your stuff, we gotta go Let's go where the memory has flown Baby, so baby, so take me down To my favorite place And beat me down By the end of the day Every memory is flooding back to me Every time, every place I think it's all right All right So you mentioned that earlier And you said, who wants to hear a song about an Indian cave? That song is not about an Indian cave I mean, I mean, I mean You know, I could write a song about kicking you in the ass But it doesn't mean I'm writing a song about my foot Right You know, and I think the song sounded great Thank you, yeah Absolutely I mean, do you, when you're playing out Do you play any original? Yeah, some of them I played Indian Cave out a few times Because that's another good gauge You know, just throw it out Hey, I got an original tune I want to try out on you folks And play it and just see how they Well, and it's like, too Because I've been doing this for 11, 12 years now I usually tell, like, I'll play There was one bar I played at And I got done with my whole show I'm like, I'm gonna stick around I'm gonna drink beer And let's just have fun Yeah So they posted out Hey, it's gonna be Intimate Hour with Jake Yeah Which is like the after show Like, I just bullshit around Bring some of my friends up And we just, like Kind of like a songwriter circle in a way But we all, like, have experiences and stuff And so what I usually do now is I'll sit with my guitar I'm like, hey, like, I like this band I met him, like, this person in, you know, this year And I like this song by him I actually got to, you know, XYZ And I'll play the song And everyone loves that Because not a lot of people know The behind the scenes on songs, you know And, like, the story And that's what I want to do Is have that Okay, even if you don't see me play for three hours Yeah I'm gonna give you an hour and a half, two hours Of just random songs And I'll tell you the stories about them And you drink beer And, you know, let's just have some fun together And learn something together, you know You know, I'm gonna be nosy And I don't want to overstep my bounds here But let me see your guitar real quick I just want to look at it I just want to see it Yeah, go ahead, man I just want to see Of course our audience can't see this Right, right You've got your So you've got your capo down here On the fourth fret Yep So we had a guy on the show A while back, a few years ago Do me a favor What? I'm sorry to interrupt, Ray Because the chords that you were playing Yes And where you had that capo Yes You drop it one You drop it one spot down It's gonna give this really cool Kind of drone with those chords Now sing that song right there Uh Hear that drone, Ray? Hear that low drone? Hit those low notes Bring that to my room Ah Yeah, it's hard to do it Yeah, it's hard to do it But you hear that drone? Yes I'll tell you what That's I was hearing I was hearing that I was like I was thinking He needs to move that capo down Oh yeah, oh yeah And it has Because it It has this droning thing to it Because it kind of adds A little bit of mysticism to it And you know, that feeling And you're singing about an Indian cave Right, yes Yeah Now, I'm gonna have to do that now Yeah, you're gonna have to Because now you're I hate that you're giving me ideas Seriously, I mean But it's the same key I do One number away Luke Holmes Yeah I'm one I'm one number away Calling you Said I was through I'm dying inside It works perfectly now Yeah, yeah, yeah So I can now just I'm gonna have to try and flow You're trying to mess around With that a little bit Yeah So you're talking about You know, describing a song Yes Talking about a song Oh yeah, yeah We had a guy on here It was our episode 103 Called Great Moments in Vinyl And what he does He's got a band That he puts together And they'll do like a whole album They'll pick an album And that evening They do a whole album And he talks about the song He's gonna do Or the song And he gives you the backstory Of the artist And it's really It's really fascinating If you ever get a chance To see Great Moments in Vinyl I definitely will see them Oh yeah We saw his Bob Seger show We saw his Bob Seger show It was awesome That's cool It was great But yeah, I mean It's one of those things to me To and I And I've talked to multiple people And I kind of agree Like I never did I never wanted to do music full time I kind of was like Okay, I'll mess around See what happens But then people started interest Oh, well you do this song I like that song And you do this style Can you play at this bar Or this party or whatever Yeah And I always That's the way it goes Yeah, usually, yeah But like I always say at my shows Put your bullshit at the door For three hours Don't think about your bills coming up Or you know I had a woman who came to me And was like Okay, well I'm going to divorce court tomorrow And I just needed a night to put And I said that's what this is about All musicians Booze and music Booze and music We got both Yeah But that's what I said I said I love doing music Because you can kind of Put your bullshit at the door For two, three hours Not think about reality And come into this fantasy That we're Us musicians are creating Creating, absolutely And maybe you'll connect to one or two songs And go home and be like Oh shit, I like that song And then just put it on your Spotify playlist or whatever And that's I do that at shows too I'll go to my friend's shows And be like Excuse me, I'm stealing that song Like I'm stealing that Like a buddy of mine Does a Jimmy Buffet show All the time up in Chicago At Boat Drinks And so I'm like Well you do Come Monday And you do this song I'm stealing them And he's like I hate you But you would do better Than I will You know Yeah That's the way it goes, right They're all cover songs Right If a thousand bands can play Don't Stop Believing You can do a Jimmy Buffet song Right Well even if I'm doing My buddy's like Try doing Take On Me By A-Ha I'm like I've done that before with people I'm like It's like Okay I did it once It was I did Well okay I did The first time was at a bar And somebody asked me to do it And I could not hit the notes I'm like Nope Forget that It's up there So then I'm on a show called Tiki Man Radio Okay Get on the peace train With Ed the Train Man It's every Monday And so we did a remote And he's like Can you pull that out I'm curious On what people are going to do And it was It was not like your studio here It was a whole like restaurant And like the ceilings were high And it was echoey Right So I said Okay Here's my chance I'm going to see what happens So I did it You could hear a pin drop And it He will Back me up on this It was so loud They couldn't even get the mics And all that Like settled in Yeah I started doing that And he goes Holy shit Yeah I can actually hear my thoughts now It went that quiet Wow And then Then After they We were like Well let's do a jam session And one guy goes You're doing take on me again And I went You can kindly kiss my ass Without doing it again And I ended up doing it again But you know But you know Because you got bags Yeah Right So where can people find you If they're looking for you socially Yeah So I'm on Facebook Jake Vaughn Music On Instagram Official Jake Vaughn Music My digital business cards on there So all my videos Are on there I got new merch coming out soon I'm actually working with a guy right now And we're trying to do something cool for Because the drop is going to be during Oktoberfest So we want to do like an Oktoberfest theme And stuff like that Because we were going to do 4th of July But like we were going back and forth Through email And we're like It's not going to work Like we can't get it turned around So we're like Well Oktoberfest's perfect And then we're going to do After October We're going to do Christmas stuff And do kind of like a funny Like funny posters and stuff Like Christmas vacation and stuff like that We're just going to make Like kind of edit it And make it look kind of funny And fit my theme so Yeah What about shows You got anything coming up Later in the summer Like July Mid-July I'm everywhere at this point So I'm going to be in Solomon, Illinois From 1 to 4 And then I got a private party But I'm supposed to be doing Oktoberfest In Manteno again I'm supposed to I'm doing That Illinois State Fair this year Because there was a conflict issue But everything is on my Facebook honestly Like I'm going down to Champaign again I'm doing that I'm going to be at St. Julian And Union Pier, Michigan I'm going to be in Valparaiso Again At There's like three venues That I'm doing But I'm trying to branch out Now I know I'm doing Ohio This year Oh wow Okay So I'm doing Ohio this year I'm going out I know I'm doing Tennessee again also Because I played at Kid Rocks Bar down there And yeah We were talking about that So I'm doing some stuff there And kind of Just seeing where everything goes You know Yeah So It's nice Well I'll tell you what I could talk to you all night But unfortunately We've got to sign off man It was great meeting you Well nice meeting you too Yeah Thanks for playing for us Hopefully we'll be hearing Some more original stuff Yeah Right Yeah That's what I do Yeah man Alrighty Jake Thanks for coming out Thank you Thank you The Rock and Roll Chicago Podcast Is edited by Paul Martin Theme song courtesy of MNR Rush The Rock and Roll Chicago Podcast Does not own the rights To any of the music Heard on the show The music is used to promote The guests that are featured